The Oh Hello’s with opening act Andy Elwell at The 7th Street
Entry in Minneapolis MN on 7-10-2013.
This was the first time I had seen The Oh Hello’s. I took my
wife to see them as she was a fan, at least more so than I was. I bought
tickets for the concert as soon as I found out that they were going to be at
The 7th Street
Entry. I found out that the show was sold out after we had gotten to the show.
We showed up at the venue just after Andy Elwell had started
playing music. There were a lot of people at this concert. I had been to The
Entry a few times over the past couple of years but there had never been this
many people packed into this tiny venue at any of those previous concerts. We
went over to the bar, this is also where the merch booth was. There was for
sale a CD from Andy Elwell. From The Oh Hello’s there was their CD album as
well as a CD from Tyler Heath. I am assuming that this was a solo project from
before The Oh Hello’s were a group. There was also a T-shirt in two different
color ways. There was an option to get a shirt with both CDs on the for sale
chart. That was what we got. Tyler’s
CD was called Let It Go. I already had a copy of The Oh Hello’s CD. It is
called Through The Deep Dark Valley. I thought that the shirt graphic was
really cool too.
Andy Elwell took the stage at 8:30 PM. We were at the venue
just after 8:30 so we didn’t miss much of his set. From what I understand it is
usually just Andy Elwell. This time it was different. A couple of guys from a
band called Tungsten accompanied him on stage. One of the guys played a
keyboard and the other played a Fender Stratocaster. They played music from his
latest album along with a couple of tunes that he had just written while in Ireland. Andy
has a very mellow voice that was nice to listen to. I liked what I heard but it
seemed like the crowd was losing interest by the minute. I really felt bad for
the guy. The crowd was actually talking over the music that was being played.
So much for Minnesota
nice, how rude.
Since there was only three players for Andy Elwell it was a
quick tear down. I was expecting a simple setup for The Oh Hello’s. Boy was I
wrong. It was still a quick setup because there was very little tear down for
Andy. Most of the equipment was already set up on the stage. The group took the
stage right on time at 9:30 PM. My mind was blown when I saw that there were
ten people on stage. I didn’t even know that that stage could handle that many
people. It is so tiny. The core of the group is Maggi and Tyler Heath. All of
the others are apparently friends of theirs that had just gotten out of
college. They had asked if they wanted to go on tour to support them and the
album. They were excited and jumped at the chance. It was obviously a unique
opportunity that may not ever happen again. Who would say no to that?
I have two complaints about the show. They in no way were
the fault of the band though. First, the microphones were too quiet. This
problem was fixed it seemed after the first song was played. Second, and this
was constant through the whole concert, was that the bass was up too loud. This
was not just the bass guitar but the bass drums as well. I think that the
bassist realized this and adjusted his playing style but the drummer and
percussionist were so into the music that they didn’t even know. It was so loud
at times that my chest vibrated with the beat. It was like when I was at the
school dances in the late 80s with the speakers that were as tall as I was as I
stood in front of them. The reason that this was a problem for me was that I
was trying to record the concert. The sound was maxed out when ever the full
band would play or when the drums were playing on there own. It could have also
been the mic that I was using to record too. Either way, it was still a lot of
bass. (Maggi and Tyler, the recording was for my own purposes and will never
leave my house).
The group played every song in their catalog, no song was
left out. They even played the four songs from their first EP which is only
downloadable. It was an amazing hour and ten minutes for a whole ten dollars!
Highlight songs of the show were for sure The Valley, Eat
You Alive, Second Child, Restless Child and Hello My Old Heart. I was very
surprised that the crowd knew most of the songs. It was very cool to hear not
only the band singing and playing but the crowd singing along.
After the concert we hung around to get the signatures from
the group. Right at the very end the group told the crowd that Maggi and Tyler
would be around to talk afterword. I had sort of decided, with that comment,
that I would only get their signatures on the CD sleeve. Especially since it
would be difficult to fit ten signatures on a tiny CD sleeve. Maggi came out
first and everyone wanted to take pictures with her. It took me a minute before
I could get her attention to sign the CD case. I said to her, “I am use to
having bands sign record sleeves.” I gave her a light laugh after and she just
smiled and moved along to getting more photos with other fans. Tyler came out and I was the first to see
him. He signed the CD case and I said to him, “You should get these printed on
a matte finish.” He said to me, “Yeah, it is so hard to sign these glossy
covers. We are trying to with the next batch.” I thanked him for signing the
cover.
We then went to talk to Andy Elwell. We thanked him for
playing and told him we had a good time. We did not buy a physical CD from Andy
but I think that I will download his latest album.
This was one of the more fun concerts that I have been to. I
know that I had some complaints about the recordings in previous reviews that I
have done about The Oh Hello’s but all of those problems go away in a live
setting. It was absolutely brilliant. If you have the chance to see them on
this tour do so. It will be the best entertainment money you can spend for an
evening.
Set List:
I Was Wrong
Like The Dawn
The Valley
Wishing Well
In Memoriam
Eat You Alive
Cold Is The Night
Trees
I Have Made Mistakes
The Lament Of Eustace Scrubb
Second Child, Restless Child
Hello My Old Heart
The Truth Is A Cave/The Valley (Reprise)
Glad you had such a good time!
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